


can you make it feel like home

by philindas



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, IN SPACE!, Love Confessions, Sharing a Bed, and the future?, welcome to AoS season five folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 09:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12908643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philindas/pseuds/philindas
Summary: “Mack, Elena, you’re together in subsection B, room 379,” Tess tells them, handing them two keycards. “Daisy- you’re with me. May and Coulson, you’re in Virgil’s old room.”“Together?” Mack lifts an eyebrow, and Tess nods slowly, frowning slightly.“Aren’t you a couple?” she turns to them at that, and their eyes widen as Phil opens his mouth to correct her- but Daisy beats him to it.or: everyone in the future just assumes Phil and Melinda are a couple and they aren't far off.





	can you make it feel like home

**Author's Note:**

> SO AOS S5 FOLKS AMIRITE? This season is going to be KILLER and I am already so in love. The Philinda in it absolutely murdered me so this just...happened. Massive spoilers for the premiere if you haven't seen it!! I hope you enjoy- let me know what you think! Title from Born to Die by Lana Del Rey.

“We’ve figured out your bunking situation,” the group looks up at Deke’s voice as he strides back into the room, Tess not far behind. Phil’s eyes catch Melinda’s as they all settle around the two, Elena and Mack across from them, and Daisy on Melinda’s other side.

“Mack, Elena, you’re together in subsection B, room 379,” Tess tells them, handing them two keycards. “Daisy- you’re with me. May and Coulson, you’re in Virgil’s old room.”

“Together?” Mack lifts an eyebrow, and Tess nods slowly, frowning slightly.

“Aren’t you a couple?” she turns to them at that, and their eyes widen as Phil opens his mouth to correct her- but Daisy beats him to it.

“Honestly, Coulson, it’s better this way. You can watch May’s leg, go through Virgil’s things more thoroughly,” her eyebrow lifts, daring him to argue- and logically, those points _are_ true. “You can let us know what you find tomorrow- I think we all need to get some sleep.”

The fact that it’s been at least 24 hours since they’d all slept, thinking back to getting out of the Framework and fighting AIDA and traveling through space and time finally seems to hit them all, and the group collectively nods. They all agree to meet the next morning in the same place before splitting off- Deke goes to show Mack and Elena to their bunk, while Tess shows Daisy to their room, and Phil takes Melinda back to where Virgil’s room was.

It’s a bit of a hike, and Phil slows down when he notices Melinda’s limp becoming more pronounced.

“We’re almost there,” he tells her softly, and she gives him a look- but it’s softened with a crooked little half-smile.

“So. The future,” she says as they walk through the empty halls- he’s glad the bunk is away from the rest of the others, somewhere quiet. Phil heaves a sigh, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“I mean- we’ve pretty much done everything else. Why not space and time travel all at once?” he replies, and Melinda snorts as they reach the door to Virgil’s room. Phil opens the door, and follows Melinda inside.

Thankfully, the space is big enough for two people- but there remains the issue of only one bed, and Phil foresees many nights on the cold metal floor in his future.

Once the door is shut, Phil allows his shoulders to slump, the weight of the last hours forcing his body to droop forward. The breath leaves his lungs, and he can feel the emotions clanging around in his skull, his thoughts unhinged and spiraling as the anxiety of their situation hit him fully.

“Hey- Phil. Breathe,” Melinda’s voice filters through the cacophony of noise in his brain, her palm warm through his shirt as his chest rises and falls by her command of in and out. The anxiety attacks aren’t exactly new to either of them, and he feels the fingers of her free hand encircle his wrist, feeling for his pulse as she counts. “How long you been holding that one in?”

“Honestly? Since we found out you’d been replaced with an LMD,” he answers hoarsely, catching his breath, and Melinda blinks, shock filtering through her expression as her grip on him tightens fractionally. “It feels like all I’ve done lately is lose you.”

Melinda moves a little closer, palm pressing over his heart as she shakes her head.

“No, Phil. All you’ve done lately is find me. Every single time,” she reminds him, lifting the hand that had been around his wrist to cup his cheek. “But you have a point. It’s time to stop pretending there’s always going to be time. We’re in the future, for crying out loud. Who gives a shit about Haig or taking steps back? The world ended and we’re supposed to fix it somehow and we barely even know what’s going on. It’s time to stop wasting time.”

“What are you saying, Melinda?” he asks, and the sound of her full name in his mouth sends full-blown shivers down her spine, the rarity of it heating her from the inside out.

“I’m saying I’m tired of running from my feelings- our feelings,” she answers after a moment of just looking at him- deep blue eyes she hadn’t grown tired of looking at over the years, lined jaw with its defined muscles, the stubble defining itself in the shadow of the room. She brushes her thumb along his cheekbone, the bristle catching on the pad of it. “It’s the end of the world. I don’t want to go out without telling you how much you mean to me, Phil. I love you. I have for a long time. I know something happened while I was away, with the robot, and if you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine, I just- I need you to know I don’t care. I don’t. But I need you to hear what I’m saying. _I love you_.”

She emphasizes each word, pausing slightly between each for a moment as she lifts both hands to cup his cheeks- maybe now wasn’t the time for grand gestures and speeches and feelings, but she can’t fight the words bubbling in her chest anymore. The weight of carrying around hidden feelings is too much of an added burden, and their newfound companions already thought they were together- maybe it was part of their history. Maybe this was some self-fulfilling prophecy, starting a relationship on this banged-up ship in space.

“I kissed her- it. The robot,” the words leave Phil in a rush, and Melinda blinks. While she’d expected something beyond her LMD trying to kill him- it hadn’t quite been that. “Things had been building and I thought- I hoped- it meant we were ready for the next step. Because I was. I have been. I have been since Maveth, if we’re being perfectly honest, but it never seemed like the right time and awful things kept happening to our team and I just- I wanted to be with you when we had time to be happy without feeling guilty.”

Melinda’s fingers stroke his cheeks, lips curving into a soft smile.

“I think we deserve a little happiness,” she confesses in a soft whisper, fingertips brushing his lips as they quirk upwards, following the movement.

“You’re not mad? That I kissed the robot?” he asks, studying her face, and she considers it for a moment before she shakes her head.

“I told you I didn’t care- and I don’t. I can still remember a life without you in it, and all I care about is making sure that never happens again,” she answers, settling her hands on his shoulders and giving him a small smirk. “You can always make up for it, though. Give me a demonstration?”

His lips curve into a genuine grin, and their bodies sway with his laughter before his head dips down and their mouths meet; something inside her shifts on its axis- finally in alignment, after so many years. Melinda can’t help the noise she makes against his lips, or the way something so soft and gentle becomes desperate almost instantly- need bubbles inside her, insistent and hot.

Her arms lift, wrapping around his shoulders, and she presses herself against him, their torsos pushing together as their lips part; exploring. She goes to rise on her toes, eager to lift herself up to feel more of him- and it’s only when pain rips itself through her leg that she belatedly remembers her injury, and the cry tears itself from her throat.

Phil instantly guides her over to the bed, gently lowering her down onto the sagging mattress and dragging over a metal carton to lift it up. Melinda grits her teeth, choking down the pain as Phil tenderly unties the bandage and checks her wound.

The circle in her thigh is red and inflamed, the skin around it puckered and swollen, and he looks up at her with sympathetic eyes.

“How badly does it hurt?” he asks quietly, and she shrugs, putting on a brave face.

“We’ve both had worse,” she answers, and Phil’s lips quirk in fond amusement.

“We’ve both had worse, but with access to proper medical care and sterile tools,” he corrects her, searching through some boxes on the ground, finding some clean-looking shirts and starting to rip them into strips. “We’ll change the bandage and elevate it tonight, see how it looks in the morning.”

Melinda nods, watching him- he shrugs out of the button-down shirt he wore, leaving him in a stained wife-beater that showcased his biceps, leaving her mouth dry and face flushed as she watched him work. She swallows as she watches his arms flex, tying the fabric around her thigh, fingers dangerously close to where she wants them, flirting with her inner thigh.

“I probably should have asked- do you want to sleep in these?” he asks, caressing the fabric of her pants- his voice is hoarse, and she can see the tension in his neck as he struggles to keep himself in check.

Curse that god damn monolith for injuring her upon arrival- all she wants is to be able to throw herself at Phil uninhibited.

“Probably for the best,” she answers, her own voice rough, and Phil gives a soft groan as he rises from the floor- she can see the tightness in the front of his trousers, only further arousing her. “Phil, I-”

She cuts herself off, because it seems cruel to say it out loud when it will be who knows how long until they can do anything about it, but Phil joins her on the bed, stroking her hair out of her face and brushing her thumb along her heated cheek, a questioning look on his face.

“What?” he asks, and Melinda swallows, throat dry.

“I _want_ you,” she whispers, skimming her palm down his chest- he grasps her wrist, stopping her before she reaches her destination, and she can see how much he wishes he could let her keep going.

Instead, he leans his head down and captures her mouth again; she sinks into the kiss, letting him distract her and push her down gently onto the thin mattress. He balls up her jacket, placing it beneath her head and hovering over her, hand at her waist.

“We can’t,” he pants hotly against her mouth, though his tone is ragged with his own desire. “Your leg, and I can’t speak for you but I didn’t bring condoms to space, and it’s dirty, and-”

Melinda covers his mouth with her palms, swallowing down her laugh and simply smiling at him, though the heat didn’t leave her gaze.

“I know we can’t. I just- I needed to say it. I need you to know it. Let it motivate you,” she tells him, fingers plucking at his shirt. “The faster we figure this out, and get home- the faster we can…”

She trails off, and Phil kisses her again, tongue plunging into her mouth- she lets out a surprised moan, hand sliding to cup the back of his head, and they’re both panting when they part.

Together, they situate themselves- Melinda’s injured leg carefully arranged over Phil’s until it’s elevated, her body curved into his side and tucked under so his body heat could warm her, and their fingers entwined. Contact at every point possible; unable to help herself, Melinda nuzzles into Phil’s bicep, nipping at the inside of his elbow, leaving the faintest mark that will be hidden by his shirt.

When they wake, they’ll need to figure out how to find and save Jemma, and then begin to figure out how to save humanity. Which only tops their list of things to figure out before they can figure out how to return home- to their own time. It’s a long list, and the exhaustion that’s lining their bodies will only increase as time passes.

But Melinda settles back into Phil’s embrace, his arm firmly wrapped around her waist, and Phil buries his face in her hair, nose pressed to the back of her neck, and it all fades away- at least for a little while.

They’d face it in the morning- together. Like they always did.


End file.
